


Reaching Hearts

by RobinPlaysTrumpet15



Series: Limits [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Colors, Fluff, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts III, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Sleep, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 14:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17869280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinPlaysTrumpet15/pseuds/RobinPlaysTrumpet15
Summary: They're reaching out, ready and waiting to catch him. All Sora had to do was let them.





	Reaching Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote all of this in one sitting. My brother really likes it and I'm pretty happy with it too, so here it is. I hope you like it.
> 
> Fair warning, if you haven't read the two parts in the series before this, I would highly recommend going to read them before this one. It'll make more sense.

Wakefulness came slowly, pulling against the sticky edges of sleep. Sora tried to open his eyes, getting them to flutter and giving him a view of soft golden light before they ultimately shut again. Something was odd here. Where was he? It couldn’t be his bedroom… he was sure he wasn’t lying on a bed. It was soft, but firm and unyielding, unlike a mattress. Everything around him seemed so much warmer and… fresher, more open, than any room.

He fluttered his eyes again, getting them to stay open just a moment longer this time.

He was on a blanket, spread out on the grass of a walled in garden. Across from him was Roxas, seemingly asleep and content. Sora couldn’t remember ever having seen him like this. Though, he did have the same look Ven had when Sora had gone with Aqua to wake him up.

Sora blinked hard and fast, willing himself to stay awake. He wasn’t tired, he was just groggy.

A yawn stretched his mouth open wide, taking in a deep breath. It helped push back the sleep threatening to drag him back under again. A weight around his waist tightened gently. Sora shifted under the arm, laying on his back and finding Riku curled around him, also asleep.

He smiled. Riku looked really peaceful when he slept. He looked younger, and sure that was such a cliche, but Sora still thought it was true. Some part of Riku’s face seemed younger even than he had back when he was fifteen. Maybe he was just calmer now. Chill, Axel would call it.

Sora lifted his hand, tracing his fingertips lightly across his best friend’s skin. His touch ghosted over cheekbones and the bridge of his nose, ever so lightly against dark eyelashes and a silver brow.

The corner of Riku’s mouth twitched up in a smile. He wasn’t asleep after all. Then his eyes were opening, teal blue and just this side of green settling on Sora’s.

“Hey,” Sora greeted lowly, a small smile beaming up at the older teen.

“Hi,” Riku responded in kind, tone just as low. “You slept a while.”

Sora hummed back at him. “Did I?”

Riku shifted his head in a nod.

“Yeah. I suppose we all decided to join you too.” Riku’s eyes drifted away to look around them, taking in the golden amber light of early evening, and Roxas laying barely a foot away.

Sora looked too. Xion was sitting up, leaning against Roxas facing away from them.

“Where’s Ven?” Riku wondered aloud.

“Right here,” a bright voice said, accompanied by soft footfalls on the grass. “Aqua wanted me to help cook, and all of you were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you.”

Sora smiled up at him, receiving a near identical look in return. Ven lowered himself to the edge of the blanket, settling in a criss cross position.

“You seem like you’re feeling better already, you know,” he commented, looking Sora over with soft eyes.

Did he? Sora thought the statement over, taking stock of himself. He supposed he might. He must have slept a long time if it was already dinner. Last he’d checked they’d just finished eating a late breakfast. It had been the most restful sleep he’d had in at least a few days though. His head didn’t hurt quite so bad, his chest wasn’t aching at the moment, he was smiling easily.

He was feeling better perhaps, but… what did that mean? Was this enough to start healing his heart? Ansem had said it was breaking, hadn’t he? If he just existed around these four and pretended he was fine, could he eventually be fine? Would they-

“Sora?”

His eyes snapped away to lock on Riku’s. He huffed a short little laugh at Sora.

“Earth to Sora,” he teased. “You are so spacey.”

Ven’s sun-bright laughter joined in. “I’d be surprised if he wasn’t!”

“Hey!” Sora defended, attempting not to smile. He’d been thinking something really serious! He wasn’t spacing out, just focused.

Sora could focus sometimes.

*

They must have woken Roxas up when Xion joined in, setting aside the book she’d been reading. There was more teasing, flushing Sora’s cheeks to the tips of his ears until they let up. Ven stood up again, saying that he’d actually been sent back out to wake them all and get them to come to dinner.

Sora pushed himself to his feet, declining Roxas’ offered hand. He was okay enough to stand up on his own. His head swam strangely, tilting the world uncomfortably on its axis, but it was gone before he could say anything about it. Though Riku’s hand did settle on his back, and that was fine. Sora could still walk on his own, this was just a… precaution. That’s all. It wasn’t necessary, just… welcome contact.

Xion joined him on his other side, her hand slipping into his own. She looked at him like he was a long lost friend she hadn’t seen in years.

“Is this okay?” she asked cheerfully. Sora only thought about it for a second before nodding his assent. “Okay! Good. I wanted to talk to you.”

Sora’s head tilted at her, curious. “Really? About what?”

She giggled. “Anything, I guess! I’ve never really gotten to talk to you before.”

And, that was true, wasn’t it? He’d said… like three sentences to her this entire time? And yeah, that was disappointing, though if he thought about it, there hadn’t been much of an opportunity until recently.

“Oh, okay. Sure.”

She smiled again like he’d just made her entire week.

Sora felt Roxas lean up close to his ear and whisper, “You just made her really happy.”

A fuzzy red feeling swelled in his chest. It was tight and hot and felt so, so good.

*

Dinner was loud and lasted a while. Everyone had gathered together, save for the King, Donald, and Goofy who’d been back at Disney Castle for about a week. Sora found himself close to one end of the table, sitting between Riku and Terra, Roxas immediately across from him with Ven and Xion on either side. They’d been the last to file in, finding everyone else already there, including Ansem and even Even and Isa. There were a lot of people around.

A lot of people.

A lot.

And suddenly Sora didn’t feel quite like he could breathe so easily anymore. The fuzzy red feeling was gone, replaced by something just as tight, but a lot grayer and harder. His knee bounced anxiously beneath the table and his stomach rolled slightly, picking at the dinner Aqua and Ven had helped make.

Xion was trying to hold a conversation with him, asking about the worlds he’d been to and the people he’d talked to. She asked a lot of questions about life on Destiny Islands.

And yeah, she’d been trying to talk to Sora, but Riku was answering a lot of the questions; only after a pause where Sora either hadn’t realized Xion had said anything or was having trouble finding the answers.

Come on, this wasn’t hard! It wasn’t hard to talk to her! It shouldn’t be hard to sit around with people he cares about and have a pleasant evening, eating and laughing and talking! This should be the easiest thing he has to do!

But it wasn’t.

He wanted to leave again. He wan’t to go back to his bedroom and sit on the bed. He didn’t even care if Riku or the others followed and sat with him. This… this was just too much. Too many people and too many voices and too many conversations. The food was good, but he worried he couldn’t keep it down. Terra had a kind, low soothing voice, but Sora couldn’t find comfort in sitting next to him.

A land landed on Sora’s shoulder. He jumped, trying immediately to disguise it as he turned to Riku.

“Are you okay?” he asked critically.

No. No, no, no, he wasn’t. He wasn’t okay.

But he should be. So-

“I’m o-”

“Don’t finish that sentence if you don’t mean it,” Roxas growled suddenly. His face was stoney and hard, a fierce sort of expression set on it that Sora was more accustomed to than his smiles.

Sora had learned not to mess with Roxas when he looked like that.

So he shook his head in tiny little movements, his eyes falling to look at his hands, one clenched around the white napkin in his hand.

“Do you think you could-”

But Sora was shaking his head again, cutting Riku off before he could even finish.

“I- I just…” he muttered, shoving his chair back from the table and standing. Riku’s hand fell from his shoulder. “I… I can’t.”

The noise in the room died down as he turned and left the, noticeably frantic.

He couldn’t keep sitting there. He had to get away.

Had to be alone.

*

Sora didn’t go back to his room. Halfway there, he’d remembered that they’d moved into a bigger one in some other part of the castle. They’d said tomorrow they could find some curtains or something to hang for privacy when needed. But for now it was fine the way it was. There was just the one full bed Sora and Riku would share, a slightly bigger one that’d been in the room already and a twin sized that Aeleus had dragged in by himself, even after multiple offers to help. Other than that, they’d continue living out of the suitcases and duffle bags of clothes they’d amassed over the month.

And Sora couldn’t remember how to get there.

So he’d wandered back outside into some inner courtyard. The air in Radiant Garden always seemed to smell of flowers, especially out in the gardens. Which would make sense, Sora reasoned to himself.

Sora took a deep breath as he shoved the heavy door open, stepping out into the late evening air, cooling down from the afternoon heat. It was probably about fall time in this world, though Sora had noted that even in what might have been summer, Radiant Garden never did get very hot. Although, maybe that was just the islander in him talking.

He strolled further into the courtyard, plopping himself down in a patch of grass. The sky above him was one of his favorite scenes. The sun was nearly gone now, mostly below the horizon, leaving half the sky a burning pink and orange, fading into a soft, muted purple and then into the deep indigo of night. He could just start to make out the stars, all the lights from other words and their hearts.

It was one of the coolest things to watch. He lamented silently that it was a lot easier to see on an island with nothing but the smooth line of ocean horizon before him. But the colors here were just the same. He couldn’t believe it’d taken him so long to realize that.

The internal jitters from dinner were seeping out of his limbs, like the flowers around him were designed to leach out anxiety and unhappiness. Who knows, maybe they were…

The soft sound of heavy wood scraping open echoed smoothly through the walled space. It was followed by a familiar sun-bright voice calling his name.

Sora didn’t look as the door fell shut again and footsteps approached. He just kept watching the stars appear.

“Can I sit with you?” Ven asked, his bright tone mellow and calm.

“I suppose,” Sora agreed, listening to the grass rustle as the blonde settled near him.

Ven took a deep breath, holding it for a second, then letting it back out on a contented sigh.

“It’s nice to be out here,” he offered.

“Yeah,” Sora agreed easily, still not looking away from the growing blue of the sky.

Ven continued on easily. “I bet you didn’t know that Aqua and Terra and I would all sit together and watch the stars.”

And, no, Sora hadn’t known that. Come to think of it… he didn’t really know a whole lot about any of their personal lives. They hadn’t actually talked about it that much. Roxas and Xion and Axel had been in the Organization, but… Sora didn’t know what it is they did together. He had no idea if Ven had grown up with Aqua and Terra or if they just all happened to become the apprentices of one master out of coincidence.

And… wow Sora felt a little bad.

“It’s okay,” Ven said lightly. “I had dreams of you and your friends, and even Roxas, but I don’t really know much either.”

They sat quietly together. Sora didn’t know what to say. Should he offer to tell Ven things about him or Riku and Kairi or lives together? Should he ask about Ven and where he grew up or how he met his friends?

“I also bet you don’t remember saving me sixteen years ago.”

Sora couldn’t help the startled way he finally looked over at his companion. Ven was still smiling evenly up at the sky, content and relaxed on the grass.

“What?”

Ven nodded. “Yeah.”

“How?”

“It’s like Vanitas said before he faded away. He was the darkness from my own heart. Xehanort separated us and split my heart into pieces. I was going to die, so he took me away somewhere no one knew me. He was going to leave me there, if it hadn’t been for you. You saved me.” Ven turned then and smiled at Sora. “You were probably just a baby, maybe a little older. Your heart reached out and touched mine. You shared your heart with me until mine was healed again.”

Sora searched his eyes for a moment, mumbling out how he didn’t remember that.

Ven laughed affectionately. “No, you wouldn’t. I didn’t for a long time either.”

“Ven, I don’t understand why-”

“Because I know. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re falling apart. And you want to stay strong and prove that you’re okay, that you can handle this. Because you think that there’s no reason to be falling apart to begin with.”

*

Ven watched Sora’s expression go slack as he stared at him in shock. His smile just turned lopsided and fond.

“You reached out to me before. Twice, at least.” He took Sora’s hand in his own, squeezing the brunette’s fingers in solidarity. “We’re trying to reach out for you too. It’s scary and yeah, you’re the savior of the worlds, but you’ve got to let us be here for you.”

Sora slumped forward a little, his shoulders curling in, but his fingers twisted tighter into Ven’s grip.

“Okay…” he mumbled.

Ven watched him a few seconds, waiting to see if he would say anything else. But he didn’t. So he looked away back at the stars.

“Do you wanna hear about the time Terra accidentally almost knocked me off one of the islands when I was thirteen?”

Sora snorted, turning his startled smile to him shyly.

“Yeah…”

“Good,” he laughed. “So, Master Eraqus had literally just left us alone, and Terra was really excited about something-”

Ven just liked listening to Sora laugh, telling him how Terra squashed him in a hug for at least an hour after very nearly pushing him over the edge of the island. They sat together laughing over the sound of the door opening and closing behind them. Ven kept his eyes on the sky, watching the stars wink into sight against soft blue-black.

Their hands rested intertwined on the grass, connected.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this installment. Let me know what you thought and please feel free to point out typos or grammar mistakes so I can fix them if needed. Also please let me know if you would like to see this series continued. Thanks!


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